Words of Wisdom | Hideyuki Tokuda (Dean, Graduate School of Media and Governance)
2004.11.12
It is very difficult to write about the many mentors to whom I am indebted within this limited space. Instead, I would like to introduce a few "Words of Wisdom" I received from professors who supported me during my time in Canada and the United States. I hope this will be helpful for students conducting research in undergraduate and graduate programs.
"Less is More"
These are the words my supervisor during my doctoral program, Professor Eric Manning, always used to say. As a principle for writing a thesis, it means that instead of writing verbosely, one should strive to provide more concise and clear explanations using appropriate language. It also speaks to our current situation of being overly blessed with material goods, advocating for spiritual richness even if it means being somewhat materially constrained.
"Be a Humble Researcher"
These are the words of Professor Nico Habermann, who was the head of the Computer Science Department (CSD) at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), where I first worked. It means, "Do not be arrogant as a researcher; be humble!" These are truly important words. I first met him at the home of Professor Norihisa Doi during my first year as a master's student, and he told me, "If you study harder, you should definitely come to CMU." I have a memory of meeting him again at a job interview in 1983, where he remembered our first conversation and his first words to me were, "So you went and got your doctorate!" Perhaps he said this as a play on the title of an old paper, "The Humble Programmer," written by his own mentor, E. W. Dijkstra.
"Think like an amateur, implement like an expert"
These are the words of Professor Takeo Kanade of CMU, who has appeared in my diary before. Not only is this phrase, written in calligraphy, displayed in his living room, but he has also published a book titled "Think Like an Amateur, Execute Like an Expert: The Meta-Skills of Problem Solving" (PHP Research Institute). It's quite a profound phrase. In our field of research, there are specialists commonly known as "systems people." These are the people who build various systems, be it software or hardware. They sometimes make the major mistake of planning a system with an expert's mindset but implementing it like an amateur. This book also contains many other "Kanade-isms," such as "Do research that has a message," so I recommend it to anyone who is interested.
In any case, I was very fortunate to have met so many great mentors during my student years and to have received their wise sayings and memorable quotes directly. I hope that I, too, can offer a few more "Words of Wisdom" rather than misguided remarks.
(Published: 2004/11/12)